Books & Reports

Featured Report

Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America

Reconnecting America and the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) examine how smaller communities and rural regions are using transit and other mobility investments to revitalize their economies and connect residents to local and regional opportunities.

This study by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development shows that demographics and other trends will cause the potential demand for compact housing near transit to more than double by 2025. This means that more than 14.6 million households will be looking to rent or buy near transit, and meeting this demand would require building 2,100 residential units near each of the 3,971 stations in the U.S. today. The study was conducted for the Federal Transit Administration and ranks metro regions according to the development potential.

This paper assesses the progress of transit-oriented development in four metropolitan regions – Atlanta, the Bay Area, Chicago and Denver. The shared "lessons learned" include the following: early planning is essential; upfront work on zoning, parking and codes can entice the market; and the planning and entitlements process needs to be made more developer-friendly. One conclusion is that TOD represents a paradigm shift toward a more integrated and interdisciplinary way of solving problems.

The New Transit Town brings together experts in planning, transportation, and sustainable design to examine the first generation of TOD projects and derive lessons for the next generation. Topics include a typology of projects appropriate for different contexts and scales; the planning, policy and regulatory framework of "successful" projects; obstacles to financing and strategies for overcoming those obstacles; issues surrounding traffic and parking; the roles of all the actors involved and the resources available to them; and performance measures that can be used to evaluate outcomes. There are case studies of Arlington, Virginia (the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor); Dallas (Mockingbird Station and Addison Circle); Atlanta (Lindbergh Center); San Jose (Ohlone-Chynoweth); and San Diego (Barrio Logan).

In 2002, we examined trends in air service in the United States in the 12 months following the September 11 attacks. We found a steep and continuing drop in air travel, and an overall reduction in the number of flights supplied. Using the industry standard data base, the Official Airline Guide (OAG), we examined air service levels at individual airports, and ranked them by both flights reduced and reduced seat availability within three airport categories: large hub, small and medium hub and non-hub commercial service airports.

A year has passed, and we felt it timely to review our findings from late 2002. Congress has still not completed its efforts to reauthorize the federal transport legislation, although it completed the aviation bill this fall, without, however, addressing the fundamental issues raised in this report.

Many projects that are labeled “transit-oriented” are merely “transit-related” and don’t realize their potential to also be environmentally sustainable and socially just. This paper offers an expanded definition of TOD that focuses primarily on functions and outcomes, such as increased location efficiency and mobility, more housing and shopping choices, and enhanced value recapture and value return. This definition allows for a more nuanced evaluation of projects, and a different view of why so many don’t live up to their potential. The authors also make recommendations on how projects can be improved, focusing on the roles that can be played by the five main actors in the development process. This paper became one of the Urban Center’s ten most popular publications of 2002.

This is the first in a series of reports from the Reconnecting America project examining the current crisis in intercity travel in the United States and recommending a more economically stable and integrated system of travel for the country. This first report focuses on the aviation system. Future reports will analyze intercity rail, homeland security issues, and federal policy opportunities. The crisis affecting the aviation industry is profound and will be long lasting unless changes in policy and approach are found in both the public and the private sector. The airlines have responded to their difficult financial situation by attempting to cut costs in labor, equipment and service. The cuts in service are resulting in reduced schedules, convenience and comfort to travelers and reduced accessibility to the national economy for many cities. The crisis threatens to prolong and deepen the financial difficulties being felt in the travel and tourism industry, which is key to metropolitan…

With our new century just starting, this is a good time for communities across the country to reflect on where we are and where we want to be. How do we make our cities places that improve the quality of life? How do we make them places where people interact, share ideas and build a future together?

Urban renewal and city center development for communities of all sizes have become urgent priorities throughout the country, as the disadvantages of suburban sprawl become more and more apparent. ... Revitalized stations and multimodal transportation centers can serve as critcal anchors for urban redevelopment efforts, because a key potential benefit of an urban center location is its accessibility for regional employment and business exchanges.